


Thursday

by HikariHM



Category: Pocket Monsters: Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire | Pokemon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Versions
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Based on a song, Crushes, Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M, Mutual Pining, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 23:40:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29990589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HikariHM/pseuds/HikariHM
Summary: It’s Thursday, and Wallace takes the same train, at the same hour, in hopes of seeing the gorgeous guy who always sits across him, even if he doesn’t even know his name.
Relationships: Mikuri | Wallace & Tsuwabuki Daigo | Steven Stone, Mikuri | Wallace/Tsuwabuki Daigo | Steven Stone
Comments: 3
Kudos: 14





	Thursday

Wallace checked the hour in his clock.

10:20 A.M.

There was no fucking way he was going to make it time to his appointment. This casting would go to waste, and with it, another chance to make it big into his road to fame.

Maybe if he had listened to Flannery, if he had taken the direct train from Lavaridge to Mauville, instead of taking Lavaridge-Rustboro and afterward Rustboro-Mauville...

As he got inside the train, he tried to convince himself that, either way, had he taken the direct train and made it in time, he wasn’t going to succeed in the casting. They always interrupted him midway his performance for the most stupid of reasons, or then said he was gorgeous and all but that were looking for someone more “masculine”, more “experienced”, a bit “older”, who looked more like a “mainlander”, who didn’t sound so much like a Sootopolitan...

As he rushed to take his seat where he always did, Wallace asked himself if that even was worthy, if maybe he’d be better off back at Sootopolis with his sister and niece, if maybe-

He appeared.

He showed up.

That guy who, unmistakably, always took the seat across him.

He always was so classily dressed, and that time was no exception; he was wearing tight, high waisted slacks, a purple sweater, fancy brown shoes, his hands covered with rings, stylish glasses on his face. To this visual spectacle he was, it had to be added that, no matter how far he was from him, he could even perceive the scent of his expensive cologne. 

He looked too fancy and classy to belong in a normal train like this one, he looked more like the son of someone wealthy, like a businessman, like a model, even. 

And yet, there he was, the same hour as ever, across him.

Wallace didn’t know his name, he didn’t actually know what was his occupation, if he was a good or a bad person, if he was straight or not, nothing. The only thing he knew was that he headed to Mauville from Rustboro every day at 10:20. 

That, and that he would always skip the direct to see him. And knowing they’d meet, even if it was only to stare at him and get lost in that unusual beauty, made every trip to Mauville to have another disappointment, worthy.

It was almost hilarious to Wallace how he only took that train every day to meet this stranger, and even though he still hadn’t even tried to find out his name.

He could just ask him who he was, find a creative way to do it, or just blatantly do it. It didn’t have to mean anything else, right? It didn’t have to even be meant as flattery. He could just go ahead and ask him where he was going and if they could talk so the trip wasn’t so boring.

But...

How could he?

That man looked like a model, like the most important of CEO’s. And he...

He was just a simple Sootopolitan trying to look like a mainlander for his castings.

If Wallace only was more attractive, or a little bit smarter, if he was special, if he was a model, or a coordinator, or a TV star to appear in all of those magazines...

Maybe, he’d have the nerve to go across the wagon and ask him who he was.

But there was nothing left to do than lean back and wonder if that guy could even imagine that, that day Wallace was wearing his most beautiful blouse just to catch his attention, and feel his heart squeezing tight each time he yawned, apparently bored, finding Wallace as uninteresting as everything else in the train.

It was a fact. He couldn’t just keep pining for a random stranger in the train. Either he stopped attending the train and took the direct to make it in time to his destinations, or he grew nuts and did something about his-

The guy looked at him.

He was looking at him.

It was it, he wasn’t staring at the window, he was looking directly at his direction. And his heart began to beat so damn fast, and-

No. Maybe he just fell into his gaze, realizing he was being stared at. But, what if...

He had to make something quick. To open his mouth. To raise his hand and wave. To stand and go greet him, to-

The guy sighed, then awkwardly cleared his throat, and Wallace just shut his eyes because maybe that way he could pretend he wasn’t staring, and when he opened his eyes again the other man had already turned his face and...

God. What if that man, the most beautiful man he had ever seen now thought he was a weirdo? Or even worse, a stalker? What if, after that, he was going to tell his friends that some creep was staring at him with suggestive eyes? What if he was starting to feel uncomfortable and the next day he sat in another place?

Wallace grabbed his cellphone to pretend nothing had happened, and as he absentmindedly watched through the screen, he felt so, so little, and realized his hands were even shaking. 

* * *

  
That day later, Wallace realized he was getting too aggressive physical reactions over just a stranger staring at him. So, he decided that he couldn’t just keep pining that way, that it was either stop skipping castings and start taking the direct train, or go talk to that man just to get the urge off of him.

But the day he decided to make a move, the guy across his seat brought someone else. 

And it was such a bother.

Because she was so precious. She had sharp features. She was tiny. Her dark hair matched perfectly her classy outfit. She also smelled like perfume. She stood pridefully.

And it became even more bothersome when she didn’t help to add any information to his already poor background. She would only call him ‘cousin’ instead of revealing his name, while he just called her ‘Roxy’.

The only thing Wallace could be thankful of, was that now he got to listen to his voice as well. And it was smooth, light at times, bass some other times, playful, cute, alluring. Just perfect and fitting for a man like him.

And Wallace, more often than not, fantasized about that voice calling his name. ‘ _Wallace’_ , he could imagine it, ’ _such a marvelous name_ ’, he proceeded, ‘ _my name is..._ ’

At this point was his name that important?

Wallace just wondered how he could have fantasized so much with that man already, with talking to him and hanging out together and hugging and kissing and taking him to Sootopolis to greet his family, when he didn’t even know his name. 

But knowing his name didn’t look like something to happen soon. His cousin wouldn’t indulge it to him, and he couldn’t ask himself either because, if Wallace had been too shy to do it when it was just the two of them, now that ‘Roxy’ was always there, he couldn’t find the nerve to.

So, the days kept going like that. From Monday to Friday, from station to station, one in front of the other, accompanied by Roxy, and their shared silence.

* * *

That Thursday Wallace almost lost the train. He was a bit unmotivated to get up from bed, even if he had signaled Thursday March 11th in his calendar a few weeks ago as the day of an important casting he couldn’t miss. 

Despite the fact that this seemed like a great chance for him to finally get his way and start an actual career, he had the feeling that, as always, there would be more masculine, more mainlander looking, more experienced, older and better accented men to win the spot.

But, when he hopped on the train, there was his only, a bit pathetic, source of relief.

The guy, with his cousin. Wallace had seen her too many times already that he was starting to get attached to her as well.

That day they weren’t talking as much, the other man was wearing his glasses while reading something, and she was texting on her phone.

And it looked like another day in which Wallace would have to wonder if the guy realized he was wearing his prettiest clothes for him, while he imagined all sorts of scenarios in his mind, just looking at him, drinking on the beautiful sight of him and-

The guy lifted his gaze, and his silver blue eyes met his teal ones. Wallace tried to keep the stare, to react in some way, to do something, but found his body too numb and overwhelmed to even blink, and so, the guy sighed, puzzled, and looked away, and Wallace couldn’t even breathe properly now, because he had lost another chance, and the guy surely believed now that he was a stalker and-

“Well,” his cousin spoke, breaking the invisible thread of tension between them. “I’ll go down on this station.”

“Oh?” The guy exclaimed. “Why?”

“I’ll meet with some friends in this station, we have to go and do a team project together, so, I’ll go down here.”

The doors of the train opened while she stood and gathered her stuff.

“See you tomorrow, then.”

“See ya, Steven.”

Steven.

That was his name.

 _Steven_.

How didn't it occur to him sooner? That name seemed to be the only one to fit this gorgeous man in front of him.

“Steven...”

Damn. 

Oh, no. Damn.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

He had happened to pronounce his name way too loud, at the precise moment in which suddenly the usual chatter and background noises of the train had gone silent. And now the guy in front of him had heard him say his name, right after he caught him peeping and-

God, Wallace wanted earth to swallow him. To make it even worse, his hands were now trembling viciously. Steven must really think now he was silly, an idiot, and the look he was giving him now did nothing but confirm it. Steven was staring, awkwardly, and, God, why? Why?

But, time seemed to stop its aggressive pace when that guy stood, and began to walk in his direction, and Wallace was too dizzy to believe he was actually approaching him.

“Excuse me,” Steven started, politely, his voice shaking a bit. “Could I sit here?”

Holy fuck.

“S-Sure...” why was he even stuttering? Why was he acting so shy, a lot unlike him?

Steven, carrying that alluring scent and magnetic aura about him, took the empty place behind him and chuckled.

“You know what? I do see you a lot on this train but I don’t know what your name is.”

“Wallace.”

“Wallace, such a beautiful name,” just like he had imagined, and, gosh- could it be possible? “Even if my cousin, Roxanne, just said it, I’ll introduce myself. I’m Steven Stone.”

And Wallace just chuckled, to which Steven did too.

“You look nervous.”

“I am nervous,” Wallace admitted. “I’m sorry for looking at you so much just a second ago.”

“Don’t worry,” Steven rubbed his hands together. “I’m actually a bit nervous myself. I’ve been wanting to talk to you for the longest time now and I didn’t know how to, I was… kinda trying to catch your eye so I could wave at you at least.”

Wallace laughed, almost incredulous.

“For real?”

“Yes, I hope it doesn’t sound weird.”

Could the man of the beautiful silver blue hair, and the beautiful eyes, actually feel the same way?

“Why would you be nervous?”

“I don’t know... you just sit here, looking like a TV star, I thought you were going to think I was a weirdo if I just came across.”

Why in the world did he last so long pining and being afraid when, those times Steven looked away and sighed just meant he was feeling equally as scared?

“My cousin told me all the time I should talk to you, else she’d talk to you first, but... you know, heh, I’m a bit shy.”

Wallace laughed again, “first of all, I don’t know why you’d assume I’m a TV star but I’m deeply flattered.”

“Well, you head to Mauville every single day, you look just like one-”

“Well. I’m actually attending castings.”

“Oh, that’s great. So you are planning to be an actor or something?”

Foolishly, Wallace snorted, “I want to be a coordinator, actually.”

“Then, why the castings?”

“You know, they say that it is easier to become a coordinator once you have already a name in the showbiz and people and sponsors already like you, and the easiest way to make it is casting for TV,” and he paused, suddenly wanting to share more with that stranger. “But I haven’t had much success this way either.”

“Oh, I see...”

“Anyways,” Wallace didn’t want to turn the whole attention to himself alone. “You also do go to Mauville everyday, why?”

“Because I’m a college student there.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, Rustboro has its own college and all, but, Mauville university is the one to have the geology major.”

“So you are majoring in geology?”

“Yes. I love everything about rocks, I collect stones myself, so I thought that majoring in geology was the best for me, even if my dad would rather have me already working with him.”

“Well, it suits you. Would it be accurate to be called Steven Stone if you didn’t have a thing for stones?”

“Right?”

Both laughed.

“I was pretty much right when I imagined you were a businessman of sorts.”

And because of that comment, Steven seemed to feel confident to add something else.

“You know something? This morning, when you almost didn’t make it in time, I was slightly worried.”

It definitely couldn’t be possible. Wallace must be dreaming at this point.

“I mean, I barely know anything about you, but even though, if you wouldn’t have showed up today, as enthusiastically and punctually as you always do...” Steven sighed, lowering his voice. “I would’ve missed you.”

And that was enough for Wallace to be honest.

“Well, that’s because I always show up enthusiastically and punctually in here with hopes to see you.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. I’d get sooner to Mauville if I took the direct. But I take Lavaridge-Rustboro first and then Rustboro-Mauville.”

Steven laughed almost too moved by that confession. For a second it even seemed as if he was going to cry.

“I thought I was the only one to be weird like that.”

“What?”

“You know, the first day I saw you, I happened to take this train just because my car had a problem that day and I needed to get to Mauville soon. Until that day, I really never had the need to use the train, I have my own car. But, I had the hope that if I showed up again I’d see you once more, and you were always here, so I always came here, and my cousin ended up coming with me, and...”

Steven laughed, sheepishly.

“You can tell I’m helpless.”

And so was Wallace.

But would he want all of that to happen in some other way? 

No. It was perfect just like that. 

“I should have talked to you sooner.”

“I say the same.”

And, for once, silence settled between them, as inviting as always.

“I have an idea,” Steven added.

“What is it?”

“You said you don’t really want to be an actor, right?”

Smiling, curious, Wallace nodded, “yeah.”

“So, it really wouldn’t kill you if you missed this casting, right?”

Wallace loved where that was going.

“Yes.”

“Well, I do have classes today, but- nothing’s gonna happen if I miss them,” he followed. “Would you like to, maybe, go have breakfast with me? There’s a place near the next station that is so good. And, of course, it would be on me.”

Steven didn’t feel like a stranger to him at all. Not if he could look at him with such sweet eyes, not when he had been riding the same train for days and days just to see his face. 

So, Wallace nodded, enthusiastically. What in the world could even go wrong now if, for once, after being pining for that man for too long just to find out he felt the same, he let himself go and be?

“I’d love to, yes.”

And Steven smiled back at him, like a little kid. 

“Aw, thank you. I’m sure you’re going to have a nice time, I promise.”

After all, could that be one of those special encounters love songs and novels talked about? That once in a lifetime he couldn’t let go to waste?

“Roxanne is going to scream when I tell her about this.”

“My roomie, Flannery, is going to scream when I tell her I’m doing this.”

Both laughed again, with the confidence old childhood friends would.

“Then, let’s approach the exit already, right after the tunnel there is the next station.”

“Sure.”

Gathering their stuff, they stood together, and approached one of the gates. And Wallace appreciated how Steven took off his glasses, and got lost in the sight of his beautiful silver eyes staring at him.

They entered the tunnel soon, and Wallace could feel the butterflies fluttering in his stomach because he was just about to go on a date with that man he had grown so fond of just by sharing the same train every morning out of a whim, and...

He was going to miss the casting, but that day was perfect already. It was a day he wouldn’t be able to forget in a lifetime, however it turned out at the end. Because, how many times things like these happened? How many times two strangers became lovers on a train?

When he looked again at Steven, who was smiling endearingly, Wallace dared to say something else. 

“I know I just met you, but...” he let the words spill from his lips. “I’m so happy and I could really hug you right now.”

Steven tilted his head, adorably. 

“If you want to do it, just do it, I really wouldn’t mind.”

And when Wallace couldn’t believe that day could get better...

The lights turned off.

People started to chat puzzled, the usually ambiental sound of the crowd roaring a bit louder this time. And even themselves looked around in search of any clue of what could have happened.

And when their gazes met again-

The loud sound of something exploding close reached them, and soon the noise of people screaming terrified joined, and then another explosion and-

“Fuck!”

“Wallace!”

And, they shared their first embrace while frantically holding on to each other for dear life, and this first hug, lasted for the last of their heartbeats.

**Author's Note:**

> Back in March 11th of the year 2004 there happened terrorist attacks in four different train stations of Madrid, Spain, which took away many lives. In 2008, one of my favorite groups ever released this song called [ Jueves ](https://youtu.be/cQHkDCaa5Ac) in which they make a tribute to the victims by making a love song that takes place exactly in a train the day of the events. This song was made to rise funds for the victims of said attacks, and also served to spread the word about what had happened back in 2004 all around the spanish-speaking countries. As this group is very well known here in Latin American, this song is quite a popular one here, we are all touched by its wording and the bittersweet way they portrayed such horrible and tragic event that I wanted to pay my tribute myself, because this story has haunted me ever since I first found out the true meaning behind it. Hope it was a good reading.
> 
> With this I go back into my break, promising to be back soon because I’m cooking something nice that I can’t wait to share with y’all soon! Please, stay safe 💓


End file.
